Leonard Nimoy confirmed to perform end credits song for The Hobbit: There and Back Again

It’s confirmed. It is most certainly not Enya. Instead, Leonard Nimoy, the world-famous actor who is perhaps best-known for his portrayal of Mr. Spock in Star Trek, will perform the end credits song for The Hobbit: There and Back Again.

The final film in The Hobbit trilogy might still be more than six months away, however we now know for certain that Nimoy will perform his cult song The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins over the film’s end credits.

This was an April Fool gag, and is not a true story. It is false, and all details have been invented. We hope that everyone enjoyed the joke.

While in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, women (Enya, Emilíana Torrini and Annie Lennox) performed each of the credits songs, Peter Jackson continues to employ male voices for The Hobbit. For An Unexpected Journey, the credits song was sung by Kiwi musician Neil Finn; on The Desolation of Smaug, it was the British singer Ed Sheeran. Now There and Back Again, will feature none other than Nimoy himself performing The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.

What’s more, we are able to exclusively — with our Russian Tolkien friends from Henneth Annun — reveal the ultimate confirmation: the first, rough edit of the End Credits Sequence for The Hobbit: There And Back Again — with the newly recorded song mixed in! Check it out!

It appears that rumours first surfaced when music writer Doug Adams tweeted:

“On a plane to Boston. LLAP”

LLAP means “Live Long And Prosper”, a famous phrase used in Star Trek by Mr. Spock. It did not go unnoticed across the Internet. The next tweet by Adams was:

“Finished recording BofBB with @TheRealNimoy. That was a blast.”

After that, the cat was out of the bag, which led to official confirmation this morning.

Charled Randolph Grean’s The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins was originally published 1967 while Leonard Nimoy was still performing the role of Spock in the original Star Trek television series. The song achieved cult status in the wake of its release: not just because of Nimoy, but also for its psychedelic music video. The humorous lyrics tell of the heroic feats of the diminutive Bilbo Baggins –- a worthy conclusion to a film trilogy revolving around our favourite Hobbit.

Jackson said: “For The Desolation of Smaug, my daughter Katie and I were delighted to work with Ed Sheeran — a talented young sing-songwriter who has an enormous future ahead of him. This time, we decided to take a different path with an experienced, seasoned performer. Who better to ask than Leonard Nimoy, whose work we grew up with?”

At first, the American actor was surprised about the unusual offer from New Zealand. However, the opportunity to leave a mark in a Tolkien film adaptation overcame his initial reservations.

Leonard Nimoy: “I’ve already reprised Spock in the new Star Trek films. So why not do this tune as well? Also, this Peter Jackson seems like a quite decent young man to me.”

Out of respect to Nimoy’s age (he just celebrated his 83rd birthday) the song was recorded in the United States with a new arrangement. However the new rendition adheres closely to Nimoy’s original 1967 performance.

“As you probably know, I am not the youngest anymore,” Nimoy said. “We figured we should record the song now, while my voice still sounds good.”

Peter Jackson: “I was amazed how young his voice sounds! When he’s singing, you can barely hear the difference to the recording from the 60s. I should know: I had that tape on constant loop when I took the train to my grandparents when I was little.”

Film composer Howard Shore also approves of Jackson’s choice.

Howard Shore: “I am just at the stage of writing the music. Even though a big part of it is already finished, you should hear some new themes –- also including some elements from The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. Its DNA will definitely be present in the score for ‘There And Back Again’, sure. If you can recall, last year I had to give up orchestration and conducting for time reasons. This year, everything will be different: I’ll be orchestrating and conducting again. And I just cannot wait to record the bits and pieces from ‘Ballad of Bilbo Baggins’ with the live orchestra!”

Warning: The end credits sequence is still a work in progress, so it is subject to change before the film’s premiere.

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